Festival Research - Screentest

Screentest: The National Student Film Festival-

Deadline: 20th December 2016

Screening: March 2017

Requirements- Under 20 minutes; any genre. Student.

Free submission.

•Screentest has always been 100% free to submit.  Promoting and exhibiting national student film talent is our pleasure, and we do not want to exclude any student filmmaker.  So, no excuses, submit your film!

•Can submit more than one film. A submission for each.

•As long as the film was made whilst you were a student, we’d love to see it.

•A Quicktime .mov file encoded with H.264. We can handle others but this may result in mixed quality screening (and we want to show your films in the best possible way!).

•Last year we received over 300 submissions and screened well over 100.

Festival Research - Freakshow Film Festival

Freakshow Film Festival-

Deadline: 22nd July 2016
Screening: October 2016

Requirements- 1-11 minutes; horror genre.

£18 submission fee. (Locatated Orlando, Florida)

•Now in our 11th year, we are the largest and longest running horror genre film festival in the state of Florida.

•We are an International Horror Genre Film Festival. Movies submitted must have some sort of horror elements to be considered for our program. We also accept Sci-Fi films as long as they have horror elements as well. We accept documentaries, comedies, experimental, animation, dramas, ect. as long as they are in the horror genre. We do Not accept any Fan Films.

•FINAL SCREENING FORMATS:
1. *Quicktime Digital file: H264 or ProRes – We would like files under 10 Gigs if possible. (If accepted, we would need you to mail us the file on disc. *(We don’t have the staff to download files.)*
2. We also accept DCP (Digital Cinema Package) for D-Cinema Projectors. Please make sure the DCP file is professionally made and theatrically tested.

•Submission via Film Freeway or Withoutabox

Festival Research - FILM4 Frightfest: London

FILM4 Frightfest: London-

Deadline: 1st July 2016
Screening: August 2016

Requirements- Under 15 minutes; Horror/Thriller/Fantasy genres.

£10 submission fee.

•Only films completed after 1st September 2014 are eligible.

•FF only accepts submission via this site. FF guarantees that your film will never be used in any way other than that to which you agree.

•You may enter as many films as you wish. Each entry requires a separate submission form, fee and separate upload.

•We only accept online screeners.

•Please note. Short film means short. Please keep under 15 and ideally under 10 minutes. We categories feature films at over 60 minutes.

Festival Research - Dead by Dawn

Dead by Dawn -

Deadline: 15th March
Screening: 21st April

Requirements: Under 60 minutes, Horror and/or Thriller genre.

Free Submission.

•We thrive on films that unsettle us and which address our anxieties and our mortality in vibrant, curious, wry or startling ways.

•We're devoted to films that allow us to scare ourselves, to see our own fears materialise in the long shadows and that dark space under the bed.

•Dead by Dawn is a unique discovery festival, and proud to be the UK’s longest running genre film festival. We’d love you to join us...we have such sights to show you!

Professional Studies - Report: Papadopoulos & Sons

This blog post, shows an incredible depth in the realm of budgeting for independant films, showing an accurate account of all expenditures within the production, giving a unique insight into what £1 million can create. It delves into budget breakdowns, distribution, festival circuits, costs of a cinema release etc.

The income sheet is updated up to and including 15th April 2015, allowing a relatively accurate reading of how profitable it has been, including its Netflix payments up until that time.

I will be using this film, along with parts of this article to generate part of my report.


Source: https://stephenfollows.com/full-costs-and-income-of-1m-independent-feature-film/

Professional Studies - Report: BFI

BFI

Lottery funding for development and production

The Film Fund is the production and development heart of the BFI. We support filmmakers in the UK who are emerging or world class and capable of creating distinctive and entertaining work.

For more information and application guidelines please visit: http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/lottery-funding-development-production

Lottery funding for distribution

We give audiences more choice by awarding Lottery funding to widen the release of films in the UK. We also develop the export opportunities for British films by providing funding to promote them at major international festivals.

For more information and application guidelines please visit: http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/lottery-funding-distribution

Professional Studies - Report: BBC Films

BBC FILMS

BBC Films aims to make strong British films with range and ambition. We are committed to finding and developing new talent, as well as collaborating with some of the foremost writers and directors in the industry. Material assessed on an individual, project by project basis.

Applicants usually get in contact with BBC Films via an agent or individually, as an established producer.  They can unfortunately not accept unsolicited material.

For more information on access and support for writers visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/

For training and development opportunities visit http://www.bbcacademy.com/

Professional Studies - Survey

To help support statements within the report i also created a survey to go with it, which was completed by myself and 50 other independent filmmakers. Those who took part range from undergraduates, recently graduated and those who have been in industry for many years. The questions were as follows:-

1    1.      How important do you think a budget is for a film?
2.      Are you aware of any of the following, as a means of funding?
3.      How important do you think it is to use established connections within the financing aspect of a production?
4.      How flexible/strict do you think a budget should be?
5.      What areas of a production should be a higher priority than others financially?
6.      How large a gap do you think there is between a studios funded production and an independent production.
7.      Would you consider using the festival circuit as a means of promoting an end product?
8.      Are you aware of UK Film Tax Credit and what it does?
9.      Have you ever been part of a non-profit production?

     The results will be included within the report itself.

Professional Studies - Interviewing Adam Bouabda

I interviewed Adam Boubda, Producer of 'Ripper' a Batman Fan Film; as part of my research on financing independent films. I really enjoyed this and it gave me a lot insight into how complex the funding process can actually be. Here are some things Adam mentioned during the one hour interview...

"Obviously the budget we had wasn’t massive for the film we were attempting. I mean, it was twelve and a half to £13k possibly. How much of that that went into production I’m not actually sure, ‘cause money needs to go back to pay for the indiegogo stuff, like the perks and all that kind of stuff. So I’d say people were only getting paid about a quarter of their day rate." 

 "you get it back through the film tax credit but, with SCIS if you. Let’s say you got £20k spare and you’re going to put it into a film, if you put your money into a SCIS company, which is what ours is going to be set up as. You can actually claim 50% of your investment back through government tax credits. So it’s called Capital gains tax. So anybody with a decent amount of money pays capital gains tax. So their capital gains tax bill would be £10k lower the year after. So they’re saving money in that way. So it’s a good way of investing. So essentially what we’re offering at the moment for 'Please Don't Die' is 70-75% back before the films done anything, before it’s been sold."

"What happens is the distribution puts in the marketing money to one side. So they spend money on marketing it, so what happens is when the film sells the first person to recoup their money is the distribution. Marketing money first...and their 20%. Once that money has come off, and the sales agent has had their 10%, any more money that comes out then trickles down to the investors, anyone who had shares in the company essentially. This is why not many films make much money *laughs*. By the time everyone has took their cut the money is just..."

I found the aspect of transcribing the interview quite therapeutic, having to hear certain parts repeatedly really helps it stick in your mind and helps to process the information at a manageable rate.

Professional Studies - Report: Concept/Idea

My concept for my report is roughly as follows:-

Report Title:

An analysis on financing an independent film, and why is financing important to a production (?)

Introduction (400 words)

- This report will cover... financing options, budgeting...

- An introduction to the available routes for acquiring funding for a production

- Mention Case Study of independent feature film,

Paragraph 1 – Financing an independent film (800 words)

- Difference between no-budget, low-budget etc.

- Purpose of the budget and how a sum is accepted as a goal

- Options of fundraising and how they help achieve the budget goal

- Anatomy of a budget: departments, insurance etc

- Statistics from questionnaire

- Comments from independent producer - Adam Bouabda

Paragraph 2 - Case Study (800 words)

- Case Study of a £1,000,000 Film

- Discuss the budget: department costs, etc.

- Securing a UK cinema release and its costs.

- Performance and income.

Conclusion (500 words)

- Evaluate the report.

- Has it given me the information i need?

- Has it answered my topic?

- What comes next?

This is however a ague representation, I will continue to expand on this as i gather research for the report.

Professional Studies - Showreel

I feel that, from a producers point of view, I have currently not done enough work to create a satisfactory Showreel. However, I do believe i will be able to make it over the summer, as a starting point on Adobe Premier. I strongly feel that the following videos can be used for my showreel upon completion.

1. Kodak: Think! - Due to the sourcing of swordsmen and a spanning grassland location set in the middle of an urban environment.

2. Kodak: Ya Think! - The opening shot can be used to show my work as Key Grip, which i feel would be a nice addition.

3. Johnston Press Promo - A few segments from this would look great, along with showing i research my locations and capture them well.

4. The Babysitter - My first festival piece. I also feel at this point in my education i had upped my game from previous modules.

5. The Hookman - A challenge within itself, due to no true sources of light.

6. Don't Turn on the Lights - A nice addition due to the mixture of indoor/outdoor shots through out, making use of the location itself.